This invention relates to acetabular prosthetic techniques, and in particular to a method of fitting an acetabular prosthesis, to apparatus for fitting an acetabular prosthesis, and to acetabular prosthetic systems.
A common failure mode of acetabular components of total hip replacement prostheses is loosening between the bone cement/acetabulum interface.
The bone cement/acetabulum interface could be improved if the bone cement is made to penetrate and fill interdigitions generated in the subcondral bone of the acetabulum.
A number of attempts have been made to improve the pressurisation of bone cement in the acetabulum. The most successful has probably been the Charnley 0gee acetabular cup which features a fixed flange attached to the cup. This flange is trimmed in the operating theatre to fit the patient's acetabulum, with the intention of thereby reducing egress of the uncured cement when it is compressed by pressure on the acetabular prosthesis. The disadvantage of this system is the difficulty of templating the acetabulum and the inherent high cost the flanged component.